


Iron Skins, Fragile Hearts

by rosesofenvy



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: (not every character is a demigod obviously), F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Oh, Percy Jackson AU, and naturally the same greek monsters will be appearing, eternal apologies, kiyoko will probably be a little ooc and i'm terribly sorry for it, maybe they'll actually end up being relationships, my AN's will give some insight as to what is going on i promise, names are added as they appear, no actual characters involved from the series, only an AU, or if they're going to appear soon, relationships to be decided, since those are kind of universal, the first chapter is a little weird, who knows - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-04
Updated: 2015-05-25
Packaged: 2018-03-28 22:16:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3871708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosesofenvy/pseuds/rosesofenvy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What the hell is a demigod and why are there wolves as big as buildings after them?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (I know this is a hella long AN I’m very sorry)
> 
> You don’t even know how long it took me to type this story out. 
> 
> I’ve been planning this story for awhile now, but it took me forever to figure out how to get it started. After a great deal of deliberation (seriously, I started this in December) I ended up deciding that it would be a series of stores that are interconnected but may not be in chronological order.
> 
> This is a Percy Jackson AU, but the only thing I’ll actually be using from the series is the concept of Camp Half Blood, none of the characters will be actually involved. Naturally the monsters will be similar because those are universal, but otherwise nothing should be directly related to Rick Riordan's series. 
> 
> The first chapter is slow, I know and I’m sorry. However it would otherwise be over 6,000 words and I don’t think that you guys want to read that much in one sitting. That being said, the second chapter still isn’t quite complete, but considering how much of it I have done, it should be posted soon.
> 
> I apologize in advance for any mistakes, I edited it three times but with it being so long, I’m sure I missed something somewhere. 
> 
> Actual plot will start being involved in the next few chapters I promise.I’ve alluded to their godly parents, but hopefully second or third chapter or so I’ll be able to straight up tell you.

* * *

 

 

"Sugawara what are you doing!"

"Don't try to stall them!”

The young teen turns to his friends with a scowl, "I can stop them for a few moments, you guys can take that time to  run."

"No way we're leaving you," Daichi answers, limping forward and grabbing Sugawara's arm and tugging him back. He can see Suga pale as the wound on his shoulder is disturbed, but doesn't try to loosen his grip.

"I can keep them off you guys long enough to get to the camp! Just go!" Sugawara replies in a strained voice, managing to jerk his arm out of Daichi's grip in a quick movement.

Oikawa stumbles to his feet, looking even worse than Sugawara as he tries to join the other demigod, "I can help him, there's no way he can do it on his own."

"You can't do much anymore either," Iwaizumi growls, keeping a firm grip on Oikawa's shoulder to keep him from going more than a few steps, easily succeeding since the other was so weak.

"Well either way, the camp is just on the other side of the hill. If we all make a run for it right now then no one will have to stay behind.” Kiyoko snaps.

Echoing her words are howls that turns their blood to ice. Kuroo pushes away from Asahi, who'd been helping him stand back out of the way, and leans against one of the large oak trees that were widespread in front of the camp. After a few moments, a hellhound bounds from the shadow cast by the tree. Its eyes seem to glow murderous icy hue as it stalks in front of their group, growling at the unseen monsters.

"He can hold them off, we can run," Kuroo pants, looking completely exhausted and fighting just to stay standing, "He can't stay more than a few minutes."

Sugawara looks indecisive, but Daichi chooses for him, grabbing his arm and dragging him towards the hill. Iwaizumi doesn't have to try to convince Oikawa, the other easily following behind. Kiyoko leads the way up the hill, glancing back on occasion to ensure that they were all still following.

Once the camp comes within view, all their energy seems to just abandon them, leaving them fighting to keep conscious as they pass through the border of pine trees that signal the entrance to the camp.

The howls that had been tailing them are completely cut off, and they all collapse on the ground in relief. Faintly, they register the sound of horns are being blown, and those still conscious see the nymphs emerging from the trees and running over to them.

"Out of the way, prepare beds at the house!"

Kiyoko breathes out a sigh and squints up at the figure standing above her, immediately recognizing who it was with the smell of smoke,  "Hey Ukai, did we all get here safe?" She manages to ask in a shaky voice.

"Yeah Kiyoko, you all made it here safe."

Kiyoko nods and allows her head to fall back on the ground. Now that they were definitely inside the camps borders, she could rest.

 

* * *

 

Daichi finds himself looking at a wooden ceiling when he wakes up. He sits up quickly, regretting that decision immediately as he gets lightheaded. After letting the room settle from its erratic spinning, he realizes that he's not in any danger or else he'd probably feel a whole lot worse.

Finally thinking to examine the room, he glances around. He realizes that there's another bed, occupied by Sugawara who still seems to be asleep, which Daichi inwardly smiles at because usually it's Suga who wakes up early. Although, considering everything he’d done, he would be one of the most worn out of their group.

"Ah, you're awake."

Daichi jumps at the voice, turning to see a familiar man standing in the doorway. The guy tilts his head in greeting and gives him an almost smile, "I’m Ukai, the director of the camp, and you’re Daichi right?"

Unknowing how to really respond, he just nods.

"Well, I must say we are all surprised you seven made it here," Ukai continues, walking into the room and moving to stand at the end of the bed, "Your other friends have explained their parts of the situation."

"Are they all alright?" Daichi asks anxiously, sitting up straighter and leaning forward, "Is Kuroo ok? And Asahi?-"

Ukai holds up a hand to keep Daichi from saying anything else, "Yes they are, Kuroo has yet to regain consciousness, but as a child of Hades, he used far too much energy and has to get it back somehow."

Daichi relaxes a bit  but still doesn't feel completely at ease, he knows all of them overextended themselves, but it was clear that Kuroo had done the most. He had been able to keep the hellhounds off them the most by summoning his own after all.

"Would you mind telling your part?" Ukai asks, leaning back against the wall and crossing his arms over his chest. "How you got here," he elaborates when Daichi looks at him in confusion.

"Oh, yeah of course," Daichi answers, taking a deep breath before beginning to recount what had happened to them the past week.

 

* * *

 

"Think we're going to have that test tomorrow or will she put it off for another day?" Sugawara muses, keeping his gaze on the sidewalk as they walk to Daichi’s, "I don't think we know enough."

"Well she's already put it off for a week," Daichi answers, "Maybe she'll not have us take it at all."

Asahi shakes his head, "Remember she said she needs the test grade for our grades to be finalized. If she cancelled it then she would just end up testing us over something else."

Sugawara groans in annoyance, "No fair, why can't we put it off for another week?"

"Because grades are due at the end of the week," Daichi replies logically. Sugawara glares at him and smacks his arm. However after that action he stops walking and turns around, looking behind them with a confused expression.  

"What is it Suga?" Daichi asks, joking at first, but dropping his smile as he sees the concerned look on Suga's face.

"I thought I heard something," Suga says slowly, sounding unsure, "Maybe it was nothing."

"Was it an animal or something?" Asahi asks, nervously looking around. The three of them were now standing right outside of the entrance of a rather shady looking alley. He pales when Sugawara hesitantly takes a few steps inside the alley, peering into the shadows.

Daichi follows him, but only to grab at his arm and try pull him back, "Hey hey, it was probably just a stray animal or something."

Sugawara jumps at his touch, scowling after he shakes off Daichi's grip, "Ow, you shocked me Daichi, and what if it's hurt? Let me look a bit more then we can leave."

Daichi takes a step back, glancing at his hand in confusion and frowning, "Ok, but we need to get home to study, don't take too long." He walks out and rejoins Asahi on the sidewalk, glancing at his hand every few seconds as if trying to get it to tell him why it decided to use static electricity to his advantage.

After a few minutes Sugawara yelps in surprise, making Asahi and Daichi jump out of their bored dazes and rush back into the alley to see what had happened. Sitting on Suga's chest is a very angry looking little dog, something between a chihuahua and a Yorkie. Suga's sits paralyzed as it snarls and bares its teeth at his neck.

"Oh! You've found my dog!" A woman squeals from behind them at the entrance of the alley.

Daichi and Asahi spin around quickly, startled by the sudden new voice. The woman just pushes between the two of them and hurriedly scoops the dog off of Sugawara's chest. She clutches the dog to her own thin chest, scrawny arms pinning it there. Sugawara sits up, staring wide eyed at the lady.

"Thank you so much honey's! I am so glad I found you!" Her smile seems to become sinister, and Daichi can't help but take a step back at the dark look in her slitted eyes.

"Y-you're welcome ma'am," Sugawara stammers from behind the woman, now standing and brushing at the dirt on his pants and shirt. The woman turns with a sort of sneer, tilting her head at Suga.

"Ooh, lucky! He likes you! But don’t worry, he likes your friends plenty too. Go on honey, three demigods on the house."

Their minds go blank as the chihuahua pushes off the woman's chest with a yip and bounds towards them, growing larger with each step until it's twice as tall as they are.

"Guys! Run!" Sugawara manages to find his voice, sprinting forward as he sees the dog snap at Asahi's head. He ducks and twists around to grab Daichi's arm before beginning to run. Sugawara stops running as the dog disappears around the corner, turning back around. The woman cackles, clapping her hands together in glee.

"Oh he loves it when they run! Come now child, go join your friends," She licks her cracked lips eagerly. Sugawara isn't sure what he should do, he glances between the woman and where the dog had gone chasing after his friends. The entire situation is unbelievable, like a dream almost.

"Call off your dog," He decides on saying, inching backwards toward the entrance to the alley. Although the lady was significantly smaller than he was, he didn’t think that he could take her. There was something about her that didn’t seem human. And besides that fact, he couldn't hear the barks anymore and it was almost more concerning than hearing them. The lady just tilts her head and smiles. "Call off your dog right now!" He shouts, growing more angry as she just stares at him with that creepy smile.

She takes a startled step back, eyes going wide at his tone, "W-what?"

"Get your dog!" He yells again, seeing her pale, mouth opening and closing wordlessly before he hears her stammer out a few words in a different language. A sudden rumbling sound reaches him and he instinctively ducks as something sails over his head. The dog had come running from the street, shrinking in midair to land on her shoulder and growl menacingly at him.

"Curses! This won’t save you demigods! I'm not the only one hear!" She screeches menacingly before whirling around and fading back into the shadows of the wall. Once she was gone for good, Sugawara’s legs weaken and he falls to the ground, his heart pounding with the adrenaline still rushing through his veins.

"What was that?" He murmurs to himself, feeling tired for some inexplicable reason. The sound of pounding footsteps reaches him and he manages to get standing again as Daichi and Asahi run into the alley, looking panicked. After ascertaining that they were all ok, they stand there in bewilderment. Although each of them are clearly trying to come up with some sort of explanation for what they’d just seen, none of them say anything.

"Never speak of this again?" Daichi finally says after a long while.

Both Sugawara and Asahi nod in agreement.

 

* * *

 

Daichi stares unseeingly out the window, tapping his pencil against the desk in a poor attempt to burn the nervous energy that was coursing through him. His mind was still racing over yesterday. They'd agreed not to talk about it, but he couldn't get over how weird that had been.

He looks over to Suga, who seems pale, like he hadn't gotten enough sleep, and is also not paying attention to the lesson. He seems to be doodling something in the margins of his notebook, but Daichi isn't close enough to see what it is. He glances back at Asahi, who's actually taking notes. At least he knows they can both get a copy of them.

Outside a storm is brewing, dark clouds and the occasional lightning flashes. Just as the teacher is about to end the lesson, a crash of thunder rocks the school, and the lights flicker out. A few screams ring out, but the teacher quickly calls for everyone to be quiet. Rain begins pattering against the building in the silence that follows.

"The lights will be back on in a moment, just be patient," She says calmly, walking over to the door to grab the emergency flashlight. She shines it around the room to make sure everyone is okay before walking over to the windows, peering through the rain spotted panes.

Daichi sends a glance over at Sugawara, who is staring outside with concern etched on his face. When he meets gazes with Daichi, he shakes his head and mouths, _'too many weird things happening'_. Daichi nods in agreement.

"I'm going to see if any of the other teachers know why the power isn't back on, please remain quiet till I'm back," The teacher says after ten minutes has passed of them all just sitting in the dark staring out the windows at the ever approaching storm. The moment the door closes behind her, everyone is up and moving around, most of them going to stand by the windows and watch the storm. The rain increases, tapping violently on the windows as it’s chased by gusts of wind. Daichi goes to stand by Asahi and Suga, who're nearer to the door than the rest of the students in the room.

"This is weird," Suga says first, "There wasn't any calls for storms today, and especially not bad ones like this." As if solidifying his words a crash of thunder makes the entire building shake once again. There are shrieks as people duck down and hurriedly move to the edges of the room, away from the windows.

The teacher runs in, still looking calm despite the chaos, "The generators are down and the storm is going to get much worse, we've been told to move to our take shelter positions." Students begin filing out of the room, joining those already in the hall, but as almost everyone is out, a third shock of thunder makes the windows shatter.

Glass scatters over the room, sending those still in the room  running and ducking for cover. The three of them are still standing by the back of the room, leaving them almost completely unprotected. Sugawara hisses as his arm is scratched, moving to cover the shallow cut quickly. Once the initial din dies down, Asahi hesitantly moves towards the window, followed by Daichi, to make sure that there wasn't anyone directly beside it when it happened.

"Hey you two! Get away from there it's, dangerous!" The teacher yells, but chokes on her words in surprise and steps back. They look up to see what had caused her shock, and are startled themselves to see a teen is standing on the very edge of the window, clothed in grey and sparking with what would appear to be condensed energy. His eyes are glowing the color of the lightning in the air, and he himself  is almost completely transparent.

Daichi can only stare in shock as Asahi gets knocked back into the desks by the figure. Lighting flickers around him as he groans and tries to sit up, a hand going to his head. Daichi  doesn't have much time to worry about Asahi though as the teen launches himself towards him, and he's only able to bring his arms up defensively as he's blasted back to the wall by a huge gust of wind.

"Daichi!" Sugawara yells, seeing Daichi grimace and fight to stay standing, using the wall as support. Suga turns to the teen made of storms in apprehension, mind racing. This was exactly like yesterday when they'd been attacked by that strange woman.

"Stop it!" Suga hopes that he can make this guy listen to him too. But by the way he's looking at him it doesn't seem to be likely.

"Daichi, Sugawara, Asahi! Get out here right now!" The teacher yells from the door, drawing their attentions away from the strange teen for enough time for him to make a move. Sugawara gasps as he thrown out into the hallway, crashing into the wall with enough force to knock the air out of him for a few moments. Daichi stumbles to his feet, joining Asahi by the door, but the teen made of storms is quickly moving to block their path.

"Don't just stand there!"

Daichi jumps as he recognizes the voice, glancing over to see Kiyoko standing in the doorway with frustration staining her normally calm features. She’s standing with Sugawara behind her, who is grimacing but looks no worse off than they are.

"Come on we need to get out of here!" She reiterates, jerking her head to the side in a way to say 'follow me'. She doesn't even wait to see if they actually do follow, instead just leading Sugawara down the hallway. Asahi and Daichi look at each other in shock, before looking at the teen in front of them.

"Think we can just run through him?" Asahi asks, noticing how transparent the guy seems.

"We need to follow Kiyoko, and I don't have a better idea," Daichi replies. "On three?"

 

* * *

 

They catch up to Kiyoko as she and Sugawara are running through the courtyard. The rain is still pouring down, but they manage to not pay attention to it as they sprint down the rain slicked streets.

"Kiyoko, where are we going?" Daichi asks as they follow the girl through a series of streets.

"To a safe place," Kiyoko responds, back to her more quiet self. Daichi frowns, not really liking the vague answer, but deciding that drilling her for more information could wait until they get to whatever safe place she was leading them too. Kiyoko stops in front of the little storefront that the three friends usually pass everyday on their way to school, and back from practice. Although the little sign said 'closed' on the door, Kiyoko just barges in. In all consideration, the door was unlocked.

The clerk organizing shelves straightens up in surprise, "Hey can't you read? It's closed!-" He shouts before realizing who it is. "Huh? Kiyoko? Why are you...oh." He looks at the three of them with something similar to distaste before sighing. His form seems to flicker as he just walks away from them, disappearing into a back room.

Daichi glances at Kiyoko out of the corner of his eye, seeing that she seemed completely unfazed. The clerk returns with towels in hand, tossing them at them. Once again a flicker seems to pass over him.

"You're dripping all over the place, I'm going to have to clean the floor later now," He grumbles, toying with an unlit cigarette. "Why'd you bring them here?"

"Thuellai were after them," Kiyoko explains as she squeezes water from her hair, flipping it back over her shoulder, "Yesterday I saw Echidna and her Chimera scurrying away in a hurry. I figured it's around time to take them to camp if they're starting to garner attention."

The clerk mutters under his breath and lights the cigarette, "Yeah yeah I get that," He flicks the ash off and looks at the three of them in annoyance, "I hope you're not going to make me escort them, this hologram won’t go much further than a foot outside the store.”

"Of course not Ukai," Kiyoko assures, "I'll escort them, I just have a feeling we’ll need some supplies.”

Daichi decides that he's had enough of being out of the loop, "What the hell are you talking about, escorting us? Thuellai? Echidna?"

Kiyoko glares at him, "It will take a long time to explain and I would rather us be on the road when I start."

"Can you at least tell us where we're going?" Asahi asks quietly.

"It's a camp," Ukai says before Kiyoko can say anything, "But you need to be on your way before the Thuellai catch up again." He moves off into the back room again, coming back with a bag and handing it to Kiyoko.

"That's enough to get you to camp, I’ll be expecting you guys."  Ukai says, looking past them to the window. They all glance back and see that the storm is once again worsening. "You should probably hurry."

"Thank you Ukai," Kiyoko says, smiling as she grabs Asahi and Sugawara's arms, "We'll be on our way now."

 

* * *

 

Kiyoko doesn't answer any of their questions until they're well out of the city and on a train heading even further out, towards a different city.

"Will you tell us what's going on?" Sugawara asks, somehow managing to stay calm despite the situation.

Kiyoko discretely glances around, then shrugs. The only other people on the train weren’t paying attention anyway. "I think we're a fair enough distance away." Her expression grows more serious, and the air around them seems to grow even more tense.

"First of all, the three of you are demigods. Secondly, one of you must be a major demigod because those monsters going after you sure aren’t wasting time, and thirdly, we’re going to a place called Camp Half-Blood."

There's a pause  as they contemplate what she just said, and she allows them to think on it before Sugawara says something. Honestly to them it seemed like she was explaining some twisted joke.

"Demigods, like from Greek myths?" He asks, tilting his head slightly as he continues to think.

"Glad someone paid attention during history, yes as in Greek myths," Kiyoko responds, her uncharacteristically sarcastic edge coming back as she relaxes back into the less than comfortable plastic seats.

"What do you mean we're demigods, and what's a 'major demigod?” Asahi asks nervously, remembering some of the lessons they went over for the Greek section. They really only briefly touched on the subject before moving onto Roman times, then into medieval so it was hard to remember much.

Kiyoko sighs, looking like she was mentally preparing herself for the explanations she would have to give, "Demigods are children of both the Gods and a human, half and half. Each one of you has a godly parent, as well as a human parent. And a major demigod is a child of either Zeus, Hades, or Poseidon. They’re usually called a child of the big three but that’s a mouthful."

Daichi frowns, "So one of our parents isn't human?"

"Yes, for example, it's my mom that is my godly parent, she left me with my dad after I'd been born," Kiyoko says, "For you it would be your dad since your mom raised you. Same logic with the both of you," She glances at Asahi and Sugawara.

After a few beats of silence in which they were all just thinking again, Sugawara is once again the one to break the silence.

"So where and what is Camp Half-Blood, and what is coming after us?"

Kiyoko closes her eyes for a second, looking more tired by the second, "Camp Half Blood is a protected place where demigods can stay safe from the monsters that are after you. All demigods attract monsters, and especially so when they're inexperienced and don't even know about their own identity. The ones after you are particularly nasty, which is why I think one of you is a big three." She gives them a scrutinizing look, "But the three of you do seem to be pretty powerful regardless."

After saying that, she looks out the window briefly, keeping a watch on the storm before turning back to them, "We have a few hours, you guys should get some sleep."


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Oikawa is not a morning person.)
> 
> Iwaizumi’s sword is a fucking medieval sword, like straight up “how the fuck can you carry this around” sword.
> 
> Yes there are seven demigods and they’ve somehow not died yet. I swear I’m trying to make it realistic.
> 
> I’m very sorry this is over 5,000 words. Hopefully they'll start getting shorter. I also apologize for the ambiguity near the end, and the sort of lame ending in general. Believe me, if I made it the ending I was thinking about it'd probably end up being near 7,000 words long and that's way too much.
> 
> Hopefully I didn't make too many mistakes but they will be fixed tomorrow if I did make them.
> 
> Next chapter should start addressing their parental Gods and Goddesses.

* * *

 

The train stops its route when they’re only halfway to their destination, much to Kiyoko's distaste. She examines the train schedule and compares it to a map, looking concentrated as she tries to think of the best route to take from here on out.

Daichi glances around the station, feeling nervous now that they know they're being followed by these creatures that only want them dead. He doubts they’re in any immediate danger, after all there aren't many people waiting on the platform, and those who are aren't paying attention to anything around them.

"We'll have to find a different way there from here on out. The buses won't go much further than if we were to walk. We don't have enough money for a cab so that option is out," Kiyoko tells them after examining their options. They'd taken inventory of what they had on the train only to discover it really wasn't much. The backpack Ukai gave them contained a few plastic bags of what looked like brownies and bottles of something that looked like honey, as well as twenty dollars and a small bag of ten golden coins. There were also a few daggers, which were kept in the backpack. Kiyoko had briefly explained the items but didn't go into great detail. None of them had anything else on them, anything useful was in their bags which had been left at school.

"So what, our plan is just to walk there?" Daichi raises an eyebrow in skeptical disbelief.

"Unless if we can find a ride, it's only around two days travel," Kiyoko answers dismissively, turning away from the map and folding the train schedule to put in her pocket. They follow her up out of the train station to the rather empty streets. It was around midday, and surprisingly sunny considering they'd just escaped a storm that'd been tailing them more than halfway to the city.

Sugawara feels uneasy, which he attributes to the fact that there's no one really around. The town they were currently making their way through was actually a sort of crossroads to other towns, connected mostly by a series of sparse trains and buses. However it seemed that they'd arrived at the wrong moment when nothing would be coming in or going out for a good few hours, and with their situation they couldn't exactly afford to wait around.

"Wonder where everyone is," Asahi comments, voicing all of their thoughts as they continue to look around.

"It is a weekday, most likely at work or school," Daichi answers, peering into the window of a storefront as they pass. He notices how there's only one worker inside, no customers at all. "Maybe we should stop to get some food or something since nothing seems to be immediately following us."

"Food sounds like a good idea," Sugawara agrees. None of them had eaten anything since yesterday afternoon, and being on the run used a significant amount of energy.

Kiyoko purses her lips in consideration, "We can stop in a store and get something, but we'll have to eat while we're walking. Since we've got a bit of a head start I don't think we should lose it."

Unfortunately finding an actual store that isn't closed or has the few employees on lunch break turns out to be surprisingly difficult. They'd almost given up hope when they find a small corner store where a teenage employee is sweeping out front.

"Excuse me, are you open?" Kiyoko asks, having been the one to step forward to talk first. The guy stares at her for a few minutes, looking their group up and down with a raised eyebrow before nodding.

"Yeah, old man's inside at the register. We're about to close for the day."

Kiyoko thanks him politely and leads them inside. The store is rather small, with packaged items meant for people like them who needed to keep on the move.  The owner of the store greets them nicely, but obviously keeps an eye on them as they begin browsing.

"We only have twenty dollars, so we either need to manage to get enough to last two days or keep enough to make another stop," Kiyoko warns as she sees them sifting through granola bars and trail mix, looking tempted to grab multiple packages.

"Well we can have five dollars each of us then," Daichi says after glancing at prices and picking a few selections, "That's an even split."

Kiyoko nods, "Just make sure to consider tax, and don’t take too long. We need to get on the move again soon.

 

* * *

 

 They get their items, pay, and leave within five minutes, a very quick stop in all consideration. Plus they had enough food to last them through the next few days, even though all of them were currently munching on something.

"Wait a second, are we just going to walk for two days straight?" Asahi asks after they’d been walking (and eating) in silence for a good ten or so minutes. The edge of town was getting close, that much being obvious by the signs announcing it, and the significant lack of buildings.

“If we can’t find a better option yes,” Kiyoko answers coolly. They all gape at her and she sighs with a small frown, “We don’t have much of a choice at this point you know.”

“Is there _really_ no other option? Surely there’s some better way to get-” Daichi starts to say before his words are cut off by a howl. They all freeze, gazes flitting and heads turning in an attempt to find the source of the eerie cries. It sounded nearby, and seemed to be getting closer

Kiyoko motions them to back up, looking anxious as she scans the area, “We should get out of such an open space, it’s too easy to get caught here-” A loud growl right in front of them makes them flinch back in surprise.

From the shadows of the alleyway they’d been standing in front of before Kiyoko had motioned them back, a wolf as tall as the easily five story building lunges out, snarling at something now pinned underneath its paw. They’re unable to react as a second wolf dives out, knocking something all the way across the road and into an adjacent building. At another glance they realize that both ‘somethings’ are people, two guys actually. The one that’d been tossed across the street had landed with a sickening crack, falling limply onto the sidewalk.

The one pinned under the wolf's paw is struggling, but with only one arm free, the dagger clutched in his grip does little. He’s forced to drop that however, as the beast presses down even harder, leaving the teen pale and gasping. Kiyoko is the first to react, snatching the backpack from Daichi, who’d been carrying it, and digs out one of the longer knives before shoving it back at him. She gives a quick order of, “Get that guy across the street out of the way,” to them before sprinting towards the wolf on top of the teen.

Sugawara moves first, hurrying across the street and kneeling beside the guy. He gives him a cursory glance, noticing a few deep claw marks and quickly darkening bruises, but nothing that would indicate broken bones. Asahi had followed behind him, leaving Daichi to help Kiyoko.They carefully prop the guy against the wall, seeing that he has a sword held loosely in his hand. When Sugawara takes it and hands it to Asahi, the guy groans and rolls his head forward, bringing a hand up to rub at his face.

“Hey hey you shouldn’t move,” Sugawara says immediately, gently pulling the guy’s arm back down to his side.

He slowly meets gazes with Sugawara, taking a few seconds to register that he was being talked to. After another few seconds, his vision clears and he gains a panicked expression, “Where’s Oikawa? He was caught by the hellhound and-” His frantic words abruptly fade into mumbles as his injuries catch up with him again, forcing him into a state of half-consciousness.  

Sugawara frowns and glances over to where Kiyoko had managed to force back one of the hellhounds, enough so that Daichi could get the other guy, apparently Oikawa, out of the way. However it was clear that she wasn’t having an easy time, the two hounds together were too much. He opens his mouth to call out to her, however another voice overshadows his own.

“Go back to Hades damnit!”

The shout was filled with something, a tone that was very persuasive. Suga feels himself relax back, only able to sit there in a daze and watch as the hounds yelp and skitter back, turning tail and running headlong back into the shadows that they’d came from.

Silence hangs heavy in the air, giving them all a moment to regain their composure. Sugawara slowly turns and sees Oikawa’s enraged expression fading back into one more of exhaustion as he leans back against the wall Daichi had set him up against.

Kiyoko stumbles back from where she’d been standing, staring in surprise at the space where the hellhound had been. She looks at Oikawa with an impressed expression, sheathing the knife as she calmly walks over to where the teen was lying.

“What was that?” Daichi asks incredulously, staring at Oikawa in thinly veiled shock. He finds that Oikawa had fallen unconscious after leaning up against the wall.

“I don’t want to jump to any conclusions,” Kiyoko replies calmly,  “Backpack please?”

Daichi obeyingly hands the bag over, noticing that Kiyoko has deep scratches on her arm, and watches her pull out one of the bags of what looked like a brownie. She breaks off a small piece and eats it, sealing the bag and replacing it in the backpack. He remembers what she told them about the ambrosia, but still, watching the wounds heal themselves was weird.

“Can you carry him Daichi?” She asks, glancing down at Oikawa.

“Carry him?” Daichi asks in confusion, “Are we taking them with us?”

Kiyoko nods, replying matter-of-factly, “These two are clearly demigods. Asahi can probably carry the other guy if you can carry this one.”

Daichi nods hesitantly, “Yeah I should be able to,” He looks over to where Sugawara and Asahi were talking to the other guy, who is amazingly still cognizant.

“Sugawara, Asahi, is he conscious?” Kiyoko asks, sounding as surprised as Daichi feels.

“Yeah, he shouldn’t really move though,” Sugawara answers, voice tinged with concern. Kiyoko joins them across the street, digging through the pack to get the ambrosia that she’d just gotten a piece off of.

“Can you eat this?” She asks while pressing it into his hand.

“Damn, you guys even have ambrosia? You must’ve had a good finder,” He mutters grudgingly, leaning his head back as he shoves the ‘ambrosia’ into his mouth.

“Just a helpful satyr,” Kiyoko replies simply, “We clearly need to talk about what’s going on but first we need to get out of town, there’s a section of woods that we can stay in for the night about a mile from here. Do you think you can walk?”

“Of course,” He replies almost haughtily, “But wait how’s Oikawa, he’s not too hurt is he?” His tone quickly turns concerned at the thought of his friend. Kiyoko glances back to Daichi, who was now walking over to them, carrying Oikawa on his back.

The guy sighs in relief at the sight of Oikawa safe. He pushes off the building into a standing position, wavering for a second before steadying himself. A hand goes to his waist, looking for the item that belonged in the sheath that was loosely hanging from a belt loop. He frowns and looks on the ground for a few moments before noticing Asahi is holding his sword.

He holds out his hand for it, saying “Thanks,” when Asahi hands it over, before sheathing it and calmly turning to Kiyoko. “Lead the way miss navigator.”

Kiyoko raises an eyebrow at the title but shrugs and starts walking out of town. Sugawara gives the guy a concerned glance when he notices that he’s limping, but since he wasn’t saying anything about it, he decided to just keep an eye on him.

 

* * *

 

 It’s nightfall when they finally stop, Kiyoko deeming it safe enough for them to rest once she scouts out the area. The woods around them are thick with trees, however they’d managed to find a secluded little clearing that had just enough space for the six of them.

“We’re still about a day’s travel away, but we’re only going to rest for a few hours. With this many of us, monsters will start flocking left and right,” She tells them grimly.

“So you guys are on the way to Camp Half-Blood too,” Iwaizumi starts out the conversation; he’d eventually introduced himself during their trek through the woods.

“I’m leading these three there yes,” Kiyoko responds, tilting her head to the side in question, “How did you find out about it?”

Iwaizumi sighs, preparing himself for the explanation, “Me and Oikawa found out about being demigods from a nymph in a forest by our school. She warned us about hellhounds that were on our trail. At first we didn’t believe her, thought it was ridiculous and that we’d hallucinated the whole thing.” He looks over at Oikawa, who was still asleep. “A day later, we found ourselves being chased by those things. We keep weapons in my house, so we ran there from school to grab them and have been on the run since. Oikawa found out he could stop those things by yelling commands at them after we’d been caught once. That helped us a lot, but it exhausts him so he couldn’t keep all of them away. You found us right when we’d run out of options.”

Sugawara pales through Iwaizumi’s explanation of their escapes, Oikawa could stop those things by just telling them what to do? That seems like a really dangerous sort of power, and it oddly reminds him of how he had stopped the lady--Echidna, in the alleyway.

Kiyoko nods, “So neither of you have actually been to Camp Half-Blood?”

Iwaizumi shakes his head, “We were only told about it by the other nymphs we found along the way. They also told us to get to the finder in the town, that they would have supplies for us, but we couldn’t afford to stop.” There’s a pause in the conversation, where they all sit back and think about what had happened so far. Daichi breaks the silence when he notices that both Asahi and Sugawara were nodding off beside him.

“Well it’s pretty pointless for us to all be sitting up, why don’t we sleep in watches? That way we don’t get ambushed by anything.”

“I’ll take first watch,” Iwaizumi volunteers, then immediately stops their protests, “I’m wide awake because of the ambrosia and nectar, it’ll wear off in a few hours so I’ll wake someone else up then. You guys can just rest.”

They all accept the argument, albeit reluctantly since they don’t yet completely trust Iwaizumi. They had just met them after all, but they know that Iwaizumi probably won’t try to do anything while Oikawa is still out of commission.

Kiyoko folds out her school jacket across the ground to get more comfortable. The others soon following her example of drifting off into sleep. Iwaizumi is more vigilant once he knows that everyone else is asleep. He felt like the four of them had been on the run for longer than he and Oikawa have been. Which is probably true considering where they said they came from. It was a good few cities away from where they were right now.

Halfway through what he’d determined his watch to be, a sudden noise makes him jump. His gaze flickers around their little camp before landing on Oikawa, who’d just turned over and was now facing him. He opens an eye as he leans up on one arm, “Iwa?”

Although startled by the teen speaking,  he quickly moves to help Oikawa sit up. He gets uncharacteristically concerned as he notices Oikawa wince when making even a small movement.

“Hey, you ok?” Iwaizumi asks softly, making sure to be quiet since he’s sure Oikawa has a headache. He’d gotten a pretty bad one the last time he’d overused that ability of his.

“Of course not Iwa, I was almost crushed by a hellhound,” Oikawa groans, rubbing his face, “What about you? Are you alright?”

Iwaizumi nods, “These guys had some ambrosia and nectar, I’ll be fine by the morning.” He glances over at the four of them that were currently asleep. “We couldn’t exactly give much while you were asleep, but now I’m sure there’s no problem.”

Iwaizumi quietly takes one of the squares of ambrosia from the backpack that had been left sitting against a tree, nearby Kiyoko. He breaks the piece in half and hands it over to Oikawa so that he could close the backpack again. Oikawa loses the pale complexion he’d been sporting their entire journey to the woods, and he sighs as he leans against the nearest tree, also leaning against Iwaizumi who’d sat back down next to him. “So, who are these guys?” He asks, looking over the four other demigods.

“Demigods, they were found by an Echidna and some Thuellai, the girl, Kiyoko, goes to Camp Half Blood for the summer. She was leading the other three there when they found us.”

“Ah,” Oikawa says simply, breathing out another soft sigh, “So she’ll be leading us there too?”

“Yeah,” Iwaizumi answers, “We’re nearly there according to her, only about a days longer walk.” He looks up through the sparse branches on the trees, noticing that the sky was beginning to grow lighter.

Oikawa had followed his gaze, “There’s a few hours till sunrise. You haven’t slept all night, have you,” It’s a statement, not a question.

“I’m fine,” Iwaizumi rolls his eyes, “It’s not like I haven’t stayed up all night before.”

“That’s bad for your health Iwa,” Oikawa chides, “Why don’t you get a bit of sleep? I’m already up so I can take over your watch,” He offers.

“No way,” Iwaizumi replies, shaking his head, “You’re injured, you need the rest.”

“You need rest too,” Oikawa protests, “I wasn’t the only one injured.”

Iwaizumi glares, but doesn’t try to argue any more, “We’ll both just stay up then.”

 

* * *

 

 When Daichi wakes to sunlight, he immediately sits up and looks around in a panic, relaxing as he realizes everyone’s still there, and all of them are asleep. Iwaizumi was leaning against Oikawa, who he assumed had woken up at some point during the night. As he looks back around again, he notices Sugawara is also awake, sitting up with a low groan as he stretches his arms over his head. He sort of jumps as he notices Daichi also awake.

“Know the time?” He asks quietly, standing and walking over to sit beside Daichi with a yawn, “My phone was in my backpack.”

Daichi glances at his wrist, once again glad that he’d actually worn his watch for once, “Six forty three,” He says, “About time for us to wake up for school.”

“Nice to know my internal clock is still right,” Sugawara says almost sarcastically. Daichi rolls his eyes with a small smile and grabs the backpack, digging out a granola bar and tossing one to Suga as well.

“Breakfast for kings.”

They enjoy their ‘breakfast’ quietly, noticing that Kiyoko and Asahi were also starting to wake up. It helped that the air was quickly growing warmer as the sunlight grew stronger.

Kiyoko shrugs her jacket back on despite the increasing heat, brushing off the dirt and leaves from it as she stands. “We should get moving again, the sooner we get to Camp Half blood, the safer we’ll be.” She glances over at Iwaizumi and Oikawa, tilting her head as she realizes they had been asleep. Although they were now awake because of the movement of the others waking up.

“Holy shit we fell asleep,” Iwaizumi says point blank as he gets up, urging a reluctant Oikawa up as well.

“The sun was up when I fell asleep, I don’t know about you Iwa,” Oikawa replies quietly as he rubs his face in an attempt to wake himself up more. He grimaces in distaste when he hears what time it is.

“Now that we’re all awake, we should be on the move again. If we’re lucky we can make it to camp by sunset,” Kiyoko announces, sliding their backpack over her shoulder. She turns and begins walking through the trees, leaving them to follow after her as she follows a path only seen by her.

 

* * *

 

 Their trek through the woods ends as they come upon more open countryside. At this point it was midday and they had all ended up taking off their school jackets and either tying them around their waists or just slinging them over their arms. Kiyoko was shocked they hadn’t encountered any more monsters. Although she had noticed a few nymphs following their movements, there were no signs of a darker presence.

“Hey Kiyoko, how much further is it?” Sugawara asks, drawing Kiyoko from her thoughts. She slows her walking pace to gauge where they were, then frowns, “We have a while. I don’t believe we’ll make it there before nightfall.”

“Before nightfall, didn’t you say we’d make it there by sunset?” Daichi asks in surprise. It was already late afternoon, and despite the six of them walking a great distance, the countryside didn’t seem to be ending anytime soon.

“We’re not in the right place for us to end up there by sunset, we’ll be lucky to end up there before morning,” Kiyoko answers quietly, calculating the distance in her head. She’s sugarcoating it, they seem to be further from the camp than when they’d first started out. She doesn’t understand how that could be possible, but either way they just need to keep moving. There still wasn’t anything following them so they might as well lengthen the gap.

“Hey, do we know why there’s nothing coming after us right now?”

Oikawa holds his hands up to ward off the glares being sent his way, “You can’t say you’re not the least bit curious,” He defensibly.

“Well we probably shouldn’t jinx it,” Sugawara replies, sounding a little annoyed.

“He does kind of have a point though,” Asahi comments, “I mean we were being followed until we ran into those hellhounds, it’s pretty odd.”

Kiyoko stops walking completely, eyes widening with realization. The guys take a moment to realize that she wasn’t leading them anymore, and turn to her with questioning glances.

“There are six demigods, by all means we should be being pursued by quite a number of monsters, but that isn’t happening.”

Daichi frowns, “And that isn’t happening because…?”

“We’re either in a trap,” Kiyoko says, seeing them pale and begin glancing around in concern, “ _Or_ we’ve stumbled into a more benevolent territory.”

“Well I hope for our sakes it’s the second option,” Iwaizumi mumbles, hand hovering over the handle of his sword.

Kiyoko thinks for a few more moments, then shrugs, “We’ll find out eventually. We’ll just have to keep walking.”

“What, so we’re just going to hope that we’re not going to die?” Iwaizumi exclaims incredulously.

Kiyoko sighs, “We’ll find out, believe me. The best thing for us to do is to keep moving.”

 

* * *

 

The day fades into night, and the illusion of broad countrysides falls away to reveal sparse forests. Kiyoko isn’t concerned about it, but they’d yet to find out who’d even caused the illusion.

Although their eyes adjust to the darkness, it’s still difficult to navigate. Multiple times muttered curses shatter the delicate silence the night holds as someone trips or runs into a tree.The further they walk, the more certain Kiyoko feels that they’re being followed once again. However she can neither pinpoint what it is, or where exactly it is. At the least, she knows they should make it to Camp Half Blood by morning. The sound of something moving rapidly through the woods after them has them all tensing up in preparation.

“Hellhounds,” Kiyoko tells them after listening for a moment, the pack was moving quickly, and it would reach them within a few moments at the most. She draws her knife, hearing Iwaizumi draw his sword as well. However something else is nagging at Kiyoko, this isn’t the presence she felt following them, and she’s sure that there’s something else still watching them. Not that she has much more time to think about it, since they can now see the coal red eyes of the hellhounds.

The battle is short and sweet, resulting in the pack retreating after only one of them were killed. Kiyoko thinks they were more of a recon group, only testing them to see how many it would actually take to kill them all.

“That was too easy,” Iwaizumi states, realizing the same thing Kiyoko had.

“They’ll come back, we’re not too far off from the camp now. I think we’ll be able to make it there…” She trails off, hesitantly turning to look behind them.

Two coal red eyes burning through the underbrush, slinking closer even as Kiyoko completely whirls around. The hellhound leaps right over Kiyoko and Iwaizumi, who were prepared to fight it, and instead knocks aside Sugawara and Asahi to swipe at Daichi.

Although Kiyoko runs forward, the hellhound backs off before she can get to it, responding to the yell that comes from behind them.

The shout draws their attention to a guy who emerges from the shadows of a large pine, leaning against the tree for support. They immediately notice the blood and dirt on his clothes, but he doesn’t focus on them until the hellhound is almost standing beside him.

“Leave!” He orders, staring daggers at the hellhound until it growls and runs back into the shadows. Once it was gone for sure, he turns back to them, raising a hand, “Before you try to kill me, he’s not mine.”

“How long have you been following us?” Kiyoko asks icily, not relaxing in the slightest. If her suspicions about this guy were right, then this isn't a good sign.

“Ever since you guys started walking through the forest. I overheard you guys talking about that camp place, and I need to go there too so…” He looks sheepish and shrugs, “I decided to follow you. Unfortunately that hound thought it was a good idea to follow me even after I told it not to.”

“Ok...so who the hell are you?” Daichi asks, rubbing his shoulder absently. It certainly wasn’t pleasant to get knocked around by a hellhound, and he could bet that Sugawara and Asahi were thinking the same thing.

“Kuroo, I’m originally from a few cities over, but the hellhound led me from my city to here after I was told about Camp Half Blood."

Kiyoko narrows her eyes, deep in thought. This guy is a son of Hades, no doubt about it, but he probably didn’t really know it yet. Although she would rather not have a group of seven, the camp honestly wasn’t far and if they didn’t wait around they would be able to get there without any issue.

“Alright, we need to get a move on, especially since you’ll be tagging along the last half of the way. If we don’t wait around we should be able to get there without any issues.”

There aren’t any protests as Kiyoko begins running through the woods, now able to see better with the aide of growing daylight. She hadn’t even realized it was dawn, which was probably worse for them since the monsters are sure to see them better-

Her thoughts are stalled as the wind is knocked out of her, she flies back several feet before regaining her footing, looking up with a glare to whatever had stopped their progress.

The harpy cackles and takes to the air, joining the swarm of others which had tracked them down. Kiyoko curses and gets back to her feet, pushing off into a sprint.

“Come on! If we can out run them we’ll be fine!” She yells to the guys who’re staring shocked at the many creatures, not just harpies, gathering around them. Although they begin following her, keeping up easily, they can’t be reckless as many of the creatures dive down in an attempt to snatch them up.

“Freeze!” Oikawa yells before a swarm of harpies could rip up their arms, although some of them had already buried their claws deep enough. The monsters simultaneously stop moving, expressions morphing into rage as they can’t move even though they clearly want to. Oikawa stumbles, starting to fall before Iwaizumi drags him back up and they begin running again.   
  
Sugawara glances back and notices that some of the creatures are already writhing free of the invisible bonds that had kept them in one place. With a look to Oikawa, he can tell that the other demigod is too exhausted to use that trick again. Hopefully they won't be forced into that situation. He looks up and yelps as a harpy barely misses his head, only because he ducks.

Kiyoko curses as they begin to be surrounded again, but doesn't stop running, ignoring the howls and hisses as she cuts through any monsters standing in her way and urges the guys to continue running. She knew that having seven demigods grouped together would catch up to them eventually.

They stumble upon an empty clearing, almost completely flat ground leading towards a steep upwards slope.

"That's the camp!" Kiyoko yells back to them, breathless from all the running. They stare at the hill with wide eyes, stopping just at the bottom of it to catch their breaths. When they turn around, nothing's immediately on their trail, except for a few creatures that'd been unfortunately right behind them. They stand there, mostly exhausted and listen to the blood chilling noises of the monsters chasing after them.

After looking over their beat up little group, Sugawara steps forward.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just realized I was spelling Iwaizumi's name wrong (I was just putting Iwazumi) so I had to go through and edit that. I don't think I missed any but if I did please tell me.


End file.
